Kornheiser gives Shanahan a D

Tuesday on PTI, my current and former colleagues were asked to grade Mike Shanahan's handling of the Haynesworth affair.

"It's being handled in the worst possible way," Tony Kornheiser said. "This has nothing to do with conditioning -- it has to do with an ego battle between a coach and a player. This guy Haynesworth may be a fat load; he's also the best defensive player on their team. This is right now a D, and if it lasts another week and gets calamitous, it will be an F."

"I have agreed with you most of the way on this, that's been my instinct to look at it that way," said Mike Wilbon, who previously offered Haynesworth "a standing ovation" for not showing up to mandatory sessions. "But Mike Shanahan is a guy who knows what he's doing. He's got a track record. Ultimately we're grading on the final result and how this plays out. If Mike Shanahan has the team with him -- and it appears he does -- and they are all aligned against Albert Haynesworth, I'm gonna give him a B-, ok? Benefit of the doubt."

For a decade the Redskins have been slammed by the likes of Kornheiser for letting the players run the show, overspending on said players, and effectively running a country club for other team’s ex-elite superstar. Coach Shanahan inherited Haynesworth and his 'run the show attitude' and apparently has the mandate from Dan Snyder to do whatever he needs to do to restore a disciplined football mentality to the franchise . . . something that has not existed since Gibbs the First. For which Shanahan is being graded as a notch above failure by TK? Fine. But which way is the wrong way? Both methods can’t be wrong.

As a life long fan, I for one love the new Redskins. I don’t care if they only win 4 games in 2010. I know they are finally headed in the right, creative, disciplined direction and Haynesworth will be a footnote years down the road when the Skins are once again a respectable and hopefully winning organization.

THE ISSUE: is "Does this feud reveal (a) Shanahan's genius, call for discipline and superbowl-winning command of a team, or (b) his stubbornness, propensity to lose a team, and his attitude in general which caused him to lose his last coaching position?" THE ANALYSIS: Maybe a little bit of both. Ultimately, this is a results oriented league. In one sense, "the end justifies the means". Therefore, if Haynesworth becomes obedient and the team does well, then Shanahan will be heralded as a hero. If Haynesworth causes locker room problems or the team does poorly, Shanahan will take the blame for the pre-season over-discipline of Haynesworth. Shanahan must find the balance between what made him great and knowing when enough is enough. I think it's time Shanahan finds a way to end this holdout with Haynesworth, or finds a way to trade him for value, because Shanahan has made his point with the team and with the fans. P.S. You can bet the NFL Players' Union has their eye on the Haynesworth matter as well.

I think Shannahan's doing the right thing. If Haynesworth mans up and passes the test, it will be a sign of at least some work and dedication and his teammates will know he earned it. If he doesn't, do you want him? Not for his conditioning, but for the fact that he hasn't put in the effort to pass a simple test after skipping out on the camp everyone else went to. How are you gonna ask those guys to do what they gotta do if he doesn't have to do anything?

The nice thing about Korny is that now that he no longer works for the Post and he's no longer on MNF, I never hear from him. His radio show airs while I'm at work and I haven't watched PTI in ages. He'd be a good question on a Dead or Alive trivia game.

Imagine you're a player on the Redskins who gave up South Beach in the offseason to be at OTA's and mini-camp...then comes Albert Haynesworth who came to nothing, and you give him a pass and allow him on the field without consequence and out of shape.

There is where you lose the team...

At some point this must end, but you don't hear any players coming to his defense.

$21 mil. is not enough!
The Skins need to create a position tailor made for Ali's skill set. Yes, I do mean:
Outside Prima Donna!
Maybe that will get Ali and his Peter partner off...the couch and away from the endless ice cream and reassuring hugs currently sustaining them. That and continuously replaying their fav movie of all time: "Sex and the City Deux."

$100 mil. is not enough!
The Skins need to create a position tailor made for Ali's skill set. Yes, I do mean:
Outside Prima Donna!
Maybe that will get Ali and his Peter partner off...the couch and away from the endless ice cream and reassuring tear drenched hugs currently sustaining them. That and continuously replaying their fav movie of all time: "Sex and the City Deux."

2 months from now when Hayneworth is back to his old self as one of the most dominating players in the NFL, it's a LOCK that Wilbon will claim he knew Shanahan was handling Haynesworth the right way all along. LOCK of the year.

If Shanahan wavered at all with Haynesworth, he would show that he doesn't have full authority. If this were Shanahan's 5th season with the team, I could see him give in some. In this case, he's doing the right thing. The BS with the player royalty on this team has to stop.

Sorry, Steinz, my "spittle-flecked grammatically dubious rants" are about how The Bog and more generally The Post over-cover the Redskins to the detriment of your coverage of every other sports story in town, essentially shortchanging your readers -- especially those who don't care about football but do care that they're missing out on learning about other things happening on the beat. (Got a tissue for me to wipe away the spittle?)

I give Kornheiser an "F". All of his humor is made up of formula jokes. I have a better chance of winning the Boston Marathon than Kornheiser does of winning ANY writing awards. He is pedantic and his writing is cliched. I can't believe PTI is still on. Just how I want to spend a half hour, watching 2 self-important buffoons argue. I suspect Kornheisr's arrogance stems from his being on TV but look at all the other BS that is successful and he should not be cocky at all.

Opinions like that is why TK is hanging by a thread in the sports journo world, no? I mean, PTI and a lame radio show is all he has left from his former perch of Monday Night Football, morning drive radio, a sports column in WaPo, AND a style-section column plus PTI to boot. The sports world has passed TK by.

Besides, anyone with half a brain can see that Shanahan's treatment of Haynesworth is supported by the players.

I couldn't agree with you more, diogenes_quixote; He even came to BCC a couple of years in a row to wax poetic about the newspaper biz (with Mike Wilbon, Jess Atkinson and others) and was a delight. This was 1994-1995, mind you.

"2 months from now when Hayneworth is back to his old self as one of the most dominating players in the NFL, it's a LOCK that Wilbon will claim he knew Shanahan was handling Haynesworth the right way all along. LOCK of the year."

---

Barno, dude. Read the article before commenting. Wilbon was the one saying that Shannahan was handling this correctly.

For all the haters on this blog there are twice the fans of Kornheiser in the biosphere. The fans of Kornheiser tend be more educated and see beyond his self-deprecating humor in that he truly is a gem for the DC area to be proud of. We also understand that spewing negativity on a blog is more for those who are missing "something" in their own lives and feel ranting about the success of others is fulfilling in someway and makes them feel better about themselves.

Tony and Wilbon are Blowhards who try to stir the pot but bring no real substance. Tony should really move to the Arts or Entertainment section and definitely away from Sports. He's a painful read and even worse to listen to.

Could someone pull the plug on PTI at ESPN? Kornheiser and Wilbon have lost their minds and gotten too big of themselves....their logic has gone out of the window and they have started to accept the national mentality of trashing DC...surprisingly Kornheiser still lives here.....I lost absolute respect for their journalistic talents, and it would be in Steinberg's best interests to NOT post their garbage on this bog ever again...

Kornheiser is an irrelevant idiot. If he hates someting, then that is validation that you are making the correct move. A previous poster said what I was going to say perfectly so I'll just summarize-- you trash the team for letting inmates run the asylum (Portis never practices but still starts on Sunday) and then when they bring in a taskmaster who installs discipling you complain about that too-- and repost an awesome paragraph.

"For a decade the Redskins have been slammed by the likes of Kornheiser for letting the players run the show, overspending on said players, and effectively running a country club for other team’s ex-elite superstar. Coach Shanahan inherited Haynesworth and his 'run the show attitude' and apparently has the mandate from Dan Snyder to do whatever he needs to do to restore a disciplined football mentality to the franchise . . . something that has not existed since Gibbs the First. For which Shanahan is being graded as a notch above failure by TK? Fine. But which way is the wrong way? Both methods can’t be wrong. "

This entire drama with the conditioning test is all staged and pre-planned. Haynesworth could not come into camp with zippo understanding of the new defense and just get on the line with the other players. It would have caused HUGE problems. They had to find a way to hold him out for a week or so and to work with him on the sidelines to get a handle on his new defensive responsibilities. I believe that this was all staged to give Albert that chance to learn the new D

Kornheiser is far and away the worst sports writer ever hired by the Post, certainly the least knowledgeable and the most negative. They guy has never played a game of Monopoly - let alone a real sport - or offered a single genuine X & O observation in his hundreds of combined columns or MNF broadcasts. His shtick in the beginning was breezy sports comedian (The Curse of Les Boulez, the Bandwagon), which has gradually transformed into a grumpy, boorish, righteous & controversial-for-the-sake-of-ratings persona, making him a poor man's O'Reilly Factor of the sports world. Who cares what he thinks anymore, or ever for that matter?

Wow!!! Maybe because I'm not from here, I dont get how the simple mention of Kornheiser and Wilbon bring the venom out of everybody. I met Wilbon at a Mortons and he couldnt have been nicer. Actually had a pretty lengthy conversation.

When Washington starts 3-1, Shanahan will be in conversations for Coach of the Year... when Washington finishes 5-11 -- after Shanahan loses the locker room and Haynesworth provides ESPN with a couple of ultimately pointless highlights-reel worthy plays -- Kornheiser will be vindicated. In the end, we're all left holding the bag. Maybe I should look into fencing...

This is coming from a sportswriter that is in bed by 9pm adn actually does not like sports..... I stopped liking and listening to Kornhole a looong time ago. Jsut another figure that rants and whines... just like the athletes.

Hey so most of the sports writers have covered the lack of discipline and the favoritism culture that has existed at Redskins Park. The new guys come in and begin applying a more disciplined process - fair competition at positions etc. And Tony's complaining? I think Coach Mike and his way is very refreshing and exactly on point with what this team needs.

And by the way, I was not feeling the Donovan trade until.........HELL WEEK! I love it! That's leadership

More hate posts from 99ers who have nothing better to do then weap and moan about someone who earned more money than the government could give them in five hundred years. Get a job, people! And as for Shanahan, he injured his star defensive player in his "Call me Coach Hardbutt" death test, and this could end very badly for him.

For a decade the Redskins have been slammed by the likes of Kornheiser for letting the players run the show, overspending on said players, and effectively running a country club for other team’s ex-elite superstar. Coach Shanahan inherited Haynesworth and his 'run the show attitude' and apparently has the mandate from Dan Snyder to do whatever he needs to do to restore a disciplined football mentality to the franchise . . . something that has not existed since Gibbs the First. For which Shanahan is being graded as a notch above failure by TK? Fine. But which way is the wrong way? Both methods can’t be wrong.

As a life long fan, I for one love the new Redskins. I don’t care if they only win 4 games in 2010. I know they are finally headed in the right, creative, disciplined direction and Haynesworth will be a footnote years down the road when the Skins are once again a respectable and hopefully winning organization.

Posted by: kmag1 | August 4, 2010 5:15 PM | Report abuse

Awesome, awesome post. Could not agree with you more.

So many people griped and moaned that this team needs a GM, that Portis was a cancer because he was allowed to do whatever he wanted because he had the owner's ear, and that Snyder was too involved.

All three have been taken care of and then some, yet people complain that the coach is being too harsh.

I would understand if it was London Fletcher this was happening to, but I think people forget what Haynesworth did for us last year.....NOTHING.

Hey pot, this is kettle. I suggest YOU read the article before commenting. Perhaps you missed the part where Wilbon says he agrees with most of this: "It's being handled in the worst possible way. This has nothing to do with conditioning -- it has to do with an ego battle between a coach and a player. This guy Haynesworth may be a fat load; he's also the best defensive player on their team. This is right now a D, and if it lasts another week and gets calamitous, it will be an F."

Again, read the part where Wilbon says: "I have agreed with you most of the way on this, that's been my instinct to look at it that way," said Mike Wilbon, who previously offered Haynesworth "a standing ovation" for not showing up to mandatory sessions.

"Again, read the part where Wilbon says: "I have agreed with you most of the way on this, that's been my instinct to look at it that way," said Mike Wilbon, who previously offered Haynesworth "a standing ovation" for not showing up to mandatory sessions."

Seriously, Do you understand the concept of reading comprehension at all, Barno?

You left out the ""But Mike Shanahan is a guy who knows what he's doing. He's got a track record. Ultimately we're grading on the final result and how this plays out. If Mike Shanahan has the team with him -- and it appears he does -- and they are all aligned against Albert Haynesworth, I'm gonna give him a B-, ok? Benefit of the doubt."

He said "(paraphrasing)I have agreed with you most of the way, now I disagree with you and think that Shanahan is handling the situation correctly."

Seriously, learn to freaking read entire quotes so you can actually digest what people are saying.